This invention relates to compositions for impregnating plastic foam and textile laminate combinations to impart chemical protection and fire resistance thereto, to a process for imparting both chemical protection and fire resistance to a plastic foam and textile laminate combination and to the resulting product.
In the field of chemical protection it has been customary for some time to employ polyurethane foam laminates with textile materials, such as nylon tricot knit cloth, impregnated with active carbon dispersed in an aqueous slurry and thereafter dried. Such products for use in making garments are covered by Military Specification MIL-C-43858(GL), 5 September 1973, "Cloth, Laminated, Nylon Tricot Knit, Polyurethane Foam Laminate For Chemical Protection". However, thus far products produced in accordance with that specification have not possessed fire resistance and, therefore, have constituted a serious hazard in situations where the wearers of such garments might be exposed to flames. Numerous attempts to apply fire retardants to such chemical protective materials have proven unsuccessful because of the necessity of using organic solvents in the preparation of fire retardant solutions or suspensions for application of the selected fire retardant materials to the polyurethane foam laminates and the tendency of such organic solvents to destroy or greatly reduce the activity of the carbon employed for imparting chemical protection to the laminates.
An object of the invention is to provide compositions for impregnating plastic foam and textile laminate combinations to impart chemical protection and fire resistance thereto.
It is also an object of the invention to provide a process for imparting both chemical protection and fire resistance to a plastic foam and textile laminate combination, and more particularly a polyurethane foam and textile laminate combination.
Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description.